{"id":691,"date":"2015-06-27T08:57:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-27T13:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=691"},"modified":"2015-09-07T20:36:04","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T01:36:04","slug":"review-cultivar-colombia-la-esperanza-dallas-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=691","title":{"rendered":"Review: Cultivar Colombia La Esperanza (Dallas, Texas)"},"content":{"rendered":"

During my last trip to Los Angeles, I had a little time to kill before returning my rental car, so I decided to try out\u00a0Cognoscenti Coffee<\/a>\u00a0on my way to LAX. They had coffee from multiple roasters offered\u00a0that day, none of which I had tried yet (Commonwealth and Four Barrel among them), and I opted to go with the featured pourover coffee from Ritual Roasters<\/a>. Since I had to get to the airport, I got my coffee to go.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you, I was walking to my rented silver Volkswagen Beetle and I took a sip of this coffee and stopped in my tracks (luckily for me, this wasn’t New York, so\u00a0no one ran into me from behind while cursing me for being a stupid tourist!). I was so surprised by the flavor of the coffee… a little plummy, with semi-sweet chocolate and warm spice. Complex. Medium-bodied. Sweet and satisfying.<\/p>\n

Once I got through LAX security, I called up Cognoscenti and demanded (nicely) to know\u00a0exactly what it was that I was served that morning. They told me that it was Ritual’s La Esperanza microlot from\u00a0Colombia. I thanked them and resolved to order a bag online once I got home. However, I soon discovered that it was not available online. Coffee is a seasonal product and my timing was both lucky (because I was able to try it at the shop) and unlucky (because I couldn’t buy more).<\/p>\n

Dismayed, I’ve been checking Ritual’s website regularly ever since April to see if I could get my hands on some. No luck yet.<\/p>\n

THEN….<\/p>\n

On a recent trip to Denton, TX I remembered that Cultivar Coffee has a shop there, so I went to grab a bag. Cultivar is a regular on “best of” Dallas lists for their superb coffee, but their two locations (East Dallas and Denton) are both pretty far from my home, so I rarely have a chance to get to their shops.\u00a0I got very excited when I saw this bag of Cultivar coffee with the words: Colombia, La Esperanza. It’s a pretty appropriate name for the coffee farm, really — I’ve been waiting for this coffee for what feels like a long time! Obviously, Cultivar may not roast in exactly the same manner that Ritual does, but I hoped that the fact that these beans originated from the same farm would lead to a similar cup.<\/p>\n

Whole beans: Rich aroma. Buttery and spicy (like baking spices).<\/p>\n

V60: From the first swallow, I was hooked. THIS is what I’ve been missing! It was perhaps a touch less flavorful than I remembered from my cup in Los Angeles, but the flavor profile was all there: semi-sweet chocolate. Dark stone fruit. Spicy and satisfying. Delicious!!! I brewed this at a 2:45 extraction time. When I adjusted the setting one notch finer on my grinder, it made it a 3:15 extraction time which happened to result in less fruit flavor and more bitterness. I’ll stick with 2:45.<\/p>\n

AeroPress: Very dark and smooth. No fruit flavor. Somehow, this method makes the beans taste like a very dark roast coffee as opposed to the medium roast that it is. Rich, buttery body that coats the inside of the mouth. I mostly got a flavor of bittersweet cocoa here. I did not try it with milk and sugar, but it seems like it would be delicious.<\/p>\n

Chemex: Brighter yet less interesting to me than the V60 or AeroPress versions. There was not as much sweetness and this cup had a powdery finish to it.<\/p>\n

French press: More fruity\/plummy than any other method. Delicious intensity of flavor, along with a thick, syrupy body. This had the flavor that I was missing (just slightly) in the V60.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong>: At long last, I found the coffee I had been looking for. Thank you, Cultivar! The flavor of the french press was exactly what I wanted, but I also want it with the cleaner finish from the V60. Maybe a Clever Coffee Dripper will get me the result I want? I will continue experimenting to find my perfect balance. In the meantime, I think it’s very safe to say La Esperanza was worth the wait. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another cup to brew!<\/p>\n

From the roaster: Syrupy. Baking spices. Berries.<\/p>\n

Cultivar Coffee Colombia La Esperanza<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During my last trip to Los Angeles, I had a little time to kill before returning my rental car, so I decided to try out\u00a0Cognoscenti Coffee\u00a0on my way to LAX. They had coffee from multiple roasters offered\u00a0that day, none of which I had tried yet (Commonwealth and Four Barrel among them), and I opted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Drinking this coffee was like unexpectedly reuniting with a friend you never thought you'd see again. <3","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[159,13,155,3,154,10],"tags":[90,95,107,54],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tn_IMG_1103.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5840,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5840","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":0},"title":"Review: Pallet Coffee Roasters Guatemala Santa Clara Estate (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)","date":"July 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Pallet Coffee Roasters had topped at least one list I had seen for \"Best Vancouver Coffee Roasters,\" so I spent the time in between checking out of my Airbnb and checking in at the airport navigating public transit to get myself to Pallet's one cafe. It was raining and I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG-6899-e1560371645714.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1535,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1535","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":1},"title":"Review: Sterling Coffee Roasters Guatemala Los Carillos (Portland, Oregon)","date":"October 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I had expected that I would have a streak of five reviews concentrating on Portland-area coffee roasters, but that expanded to seven once I decided to get two additional bags of Sterling Coffee Roasters' beans. This is the last in the series; the next bag will likely be something local\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Central America"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tn_IMG_1647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2527,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2527","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":2},"title":"Review: Andytown Coffee Roasters Colombia Las Planadas (San Francisco, California)","date":"February 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A quick trip recently to Michigan found me seeking out local shops\/roasters in the Detroit area. I had about 10 minutes to decide where I was going, and luckily for me, I found a terrific little shop called Astro in the Corktown area of Detroit. 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There was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tn_IMG_1750.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6670,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=6670","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":4},"title":"Review: Cherry Coffee Co. Hang Around Espresso Blend (Fort Worth, Texas)","date":"April 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I attended the inaugural Dallas Coffee Festival earlier this month and had a good time exploring the booths of many local roasters, about half of which I'd not yet heard of. Novel Coffee Roasters is a Dallas-area roaster I've enjoyed many times, and I was intrigued to see they were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_0179-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4170,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=4170","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":5},"title":"Review: Patricia Coffee Roasters Guatemala Santa Isabel (Melbourne, Australia)","date":"November 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This was my third and final stop for coffee beans in Melbourne, but my first for actually consuming any coffee at a cafe. 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